Upper Deck Retains MLBPA License

More news from Upper Deck today, this time with huge news for  baseball card collectors of all types, as Upper Deck has announecd that they have retained their  license from the MLBPA to make baseball cards.  So now we know that Upper Deck will continue to make baseball cards, but there’s no word about their license being exclusive.  So now the question is, does Topps retain theirs?  Can Donruss regain one?  

While the press release is full of the marketing goodness I expect from these, the entire thing is linked above.  I’m currently waiting on a response from Upper Deck to find out how long the license runs for.  We do know, however, that 2010 Upper Deck Series One will launch on February 6, 2010.

Honestly, this is huge news.  I had heard a number of rumblings that UD might be losing their license, although given how the card products had been running for baseball, I didn’t see it happening, and now I know I was right.  So far, the 2009 baseball products that Upper Deck has put out has been of good to great quality, with a few exceptions due to my own personal preferences as far as card collecting.  With that being said, the clock is now ticking.  We don’t know what’s going to happen to Topps, or if Panini is going to be able to secure a license.  We also know now that the Razor/Upper Deck connection didn’t cause any issues, at least not that we’re aware of.  I honestly hope that 2010 brings some serious innovation from Upper Deck to baseball (as well as other sports).  We really could use some at this point to liven up this stale hobby.